eCall is a European initiative intended to bring rapid assistance to motorists involved in a collision. The eCall initiative aims to deploy a device installed in all road vehicles that will automatically contact the rescue service in the event of a serious road accident, and wirelessly send airbag deployment and shock sensor information, as well as GPS coordinates to a local rescue service. According to some estimates, eCall could speed emergency response times by 40 percent in urban areas and by 50 percent in rural areas.
Thus, in case of accidents happening, especially when road vehicles are involved, it is crucial to send an alarm to a rescue service as soon as possible so that help can arrive at the site of accident. For doing so an emergency notifying apparatus may be employed. Such an emergency notifying apparatus is typically based on one or more shock sensors arranged in the road vehicle. The shock sensors are typically mounted at a forefront and/or rear end of the road vehicle. The shock sensors are also used for deploying airbags locate inside the road vehicle to reduce a shock given to passengers inside the road vehicle and to protect them. Further, the emergency notifying apparatus comprises a position determining system (e.g., a GPS). If the shock sensor detects a shock, the position determining system outputs position and time information of the road vehicle. The information regarding the shock detected by the shock sensor and the information pertaining to position and time are transmitted to an emergency notification control unit located inside the road vehicle. The emergency notification control unit is compiling a notification signal comprising the detected shock, the time and a position of the occurrence of the accident. The notification signal is supplied to a transmission unit (e.g., a mobile phone) and then the transmission unit automatically transmits the notification signal, to an emergency information center via a wireless communication network. The emergency information center checks the occurrence of the accident and its position by means of the received notification signal. Then, the emergency center is arranged to inform a rescue service about the accident. The rescue service may e.g., comprise patrol cars, ambulance cars, fire engines, tow cars and the like.
Such an emergency notifying apparatus is e.g., disclosed in EP 1 233 387. According to EP 1 233 387 the emergency notifying apparatus further comprises cameras capturing images of the road vehicle and its surroundings such that the rescue service may be informed about the site of accident before they arrive.
However, a problem with the emergency notifying apparatuses according to the above are that they are expensive and troublesome to retrofit in existing road vehicles not being equipped with the emergency notifying apparatus at manufacture.